Page "Edward Pococke" Paragraph 2

He was the son of clergyman from Chieveley in Berkshire, and was educated at Lord Williams's School of Thame in Oxfordshire and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford ( scholar in 1620, fellow in 1628 ).

He was ordained a priest of the Church of England 20 December 1629.

The first result of his studies was an edition from a Bodleian Library manuscript of the four New Testament epistles ( 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude ) which were not in the old Syriac canon, and were not contained in European editions of the Peshito.

This was published at Leiden at the instigation of Gerard Vossius in 1630, and in the same year Pococke sailed for Aleppo as chaplain to the English factor.

At Aleppo he studied the Arabic language, and collected many valuable manuscripts.